YEAR 6 - MARKET PLACE

Mrs Irneson was the most feared teacher in school, easily the most strict, ruthless and hardline person I ever met in my school life. Her old frail appearance couldn’t have been any more deceptive. It was almost like she had been transported forward in time from the Victorian era, anyone who said they wasn’t scared of her was a liar.



(I’m in the middle row second from the right)

In the beginning I hated being in her class, it felt like she was constantly watching and waiting to find fault with something you had done. You had to do things her way regardless of what you were taught by the teachers in previous years. It was nothing unusual to spend an hour doing a piece of work only for her to just put red pen line through the lot or screw it up and throw it in the bin without the slightest hint of compassion.

Unlike every other teacher who gave me a hard time for being poor at English and nothing but praise for being good at Maths she sort of accepted that I was never going to be top at English. At maths however she had this completely irrational obsession with my methods and the way I set my work out. Looking back this was one issue I definitely didn’t agree with, so much so I have written a separate entry on the subject (see the next entry in this chapter THE LUNACY OF MATHS EDUCATION FOR DETAILS). There were a few other minor issues I did have with her such as the way she pushed her own religious beliefs on us and a few very old fashioned ideas such as not fully accepting that one of my friends was left handed.

Overall she was a brilliant teacher who always got the best out of everyone, she had absolutely no tolerance for slackers. Her favourite saying was “I don’t mind people who can’t, I object to people who won’t”. She knew everyone's strengths and weaknesses, if she thought you were weak in a certain area she would get the previous years textbook out and make you go through it again. On the other hand if she thought the first chapter of a textbook wasn’t challenging enough she would tell you to miss it out. The best way to describe it is that she taught us to teach ourselves. This contrasted sharply with the “one size fits all” mentality at secondary school which played a big part in ruining my education. If every teacher was like her our country would be a very different place.

If you did anything wrong you knew about it, I remember her making Billy Gask wash his face in front of our class when he turned up to school covered in dirt. There was no favouritism and everyone was treated equally unlike a lot of teachers (like Mrs Price in year 2!!!!!). She didn’t shy out of making difficult decisions unlike a lot of teachers who avoid real problems but nitpick at more trivial ones. It’s probably worth noting that was the only year at school between the ages of 6 and 14 that I wasn’t bullied.

I hated it at first but when I look back it was the most productive year of my school life. Unfortunately everything that was achieved was quickly ruined the minute I set foot into Castle Rock High school..................................


SCHOOL REPORT

ENGLISH - A year of steady progress, Matthew has made a real effort to improve the presentation of his written work.

MATHS - Matthew has a very mathematical mind, but he needed to learn how to set down his work neatly and carefully so that others could follow his thought processes. He has begun to realise the importance of this side of the subject. Well done Matthew

SPECIAL INTERESTS - Matthew takes an interest in all subjects.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION - Fair only

GENERAL REMARKS - A very good years work, Matthew has worked very hard to improve the setting down of his maths and English. I hope he will try to maintain a high standard.